Convener for Affirmative Action Bill Coalition, Sheila Menka-Premo, has called for the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill in parliament.

According to her, despite the absence of the minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Adwoa Safo, there is the need for the bill to be passed. She indicated that the Coalition is in talks with the caretaker minister to see what can be done to expedite the process.

“As far as we are concerned, we like to see the bill passed. So, whichever way we can get a minister in place to push the bill is fine with us. Whichever way His Excellency the President finds most convenient to ensure that that ministry is well-catered for and among others, the minister will then push to have this law in place, will be fine with us.”
Sheila Menka-Premo

Mrs Menka-Premo revealed that despite the absence of the substantive minister, the Coalition isn’t insisting the “President should replace her”. She indicated that there may be some challenges Adwoa Safo is going through, so it will be safe for them to look at other options.

“At a seminar today, we did indicate that we are in touch with the caretaker minister who has promised us to also make this a priority. So, we are also pursuing that angle. We know that women in leadership generally have challenges where they have to balance responsibilities as mothers, wives etc. The current option in place is the caretaker minister and we are in touch with her and lobbying her to try to push for this bill at the cabinet level and she’s quite receptive.”
Sheila Menka-Premo

Processing of Affirmative Action Bill

Commenting on the reason why parliament hasn’t been able to pass the bill, Mrs Menka-Premo explained that the “bill is not in parliament”, but at the cabinet level. She express that since the Coalition started working on the bill in 2011, it did go to parliament in October 2016. However, she indicated that since the submission to parliament was just before the elections in 2016, parliament didn’t get a chance to process it.

“So, the whole process for looking at the draft again and updating was continued from 2017 till date. So, from 2017 till date, it hasn’t gotten to parliament yet, it’s still at cabinet level. Sometimes, feedbacks come to address some parts of it, we’ve worked with some of the ministers in that particular ministry to address it… So, what we are pushing is for cabinet to at least work on it and lay it in parliament as soon as possible.”
Sheila Menka-Premo

Mrs Menka-Premo lamented the change in ministers for Gender and Social Protection since 2011. She revealed that the country has had six different ministers and usually, when they are appointed, “they need to acclimatize themselves with all the issues on the different mandates they have”.

Once they do realize that the affirmative action bill is one of the key things, Mrs Menka-Premo noted that they do pick up on it, although it takes a while.

“So, for me, the six over the period have been why possibly it has also sort of delayed. Looking at now, we are saying that it is something that should be made a priority. Primarily because one of the yardsticks that is being used to get this in place is the sustainable development goals, particularly goal 5… The way we are going, if we don’t get the bill in place as soon as possible, it’s not likely that as far as this issue is concerned we will be able to meet that [goal]…”
Sheila Menka-Premo